"Woodpeckers of every species, (Picida VIGORS), probably without exception, are carpenters in the sense in which we have used the term, that is, they not only bore into trees in pursuit of insects for food, but chisel out holes for the purpose of nestling. Being endowed by Providence with admirable organs for this purpose, we have a right to infer that they take as much pleasure in the employment of the faculties bestowed upon them as we do in the most agreeable occupations. Buffon, on the other hand, considers such labours a slavish misery to the race of woodpeckers, whom he represents as peculiarly wretched examples of the inequality to be found in the distribution of happiness.-Nat. Hist.

"We turn with pleasure to the enthusiastic defence of the bird, by Wilson, in his account of the gold-winged woodpecker (Colaptes auratus, SwAINS.)

"The abject and degraded character," says he," which the Count de Buffon, with equal eloquence and absurdity, has drawn of the whole tribe of woodpeckers, belongs not to the elegant and sprightly bird now before us. He is not 'con

strained to drag out an insipid existence in boring the bark and hard fibres of trees to extract his prey,' for he frequently finds in the loose, mouldering ruins of an old stump (the capital of a nation of ants), more than is sufficient for the wants of a whole week. He cannot be said to lead a mean and gloomy life, without an intermission of labour,' who usually feasts by the first peep of dawn, and spends the early and sweetest hours of morning on the highest peaks of tallest trees, calling on his mate or companions, or pursuing and gambolling with them round the larger limbs and body of the tree for hours together; for such are really his habits. Can it be said that necessity never grants an interval of sound repose' to that bird, who, while other tribes are exposed to all the peltings of the midnight storm, lodges dry and secure in a snug chamber of his own constructing; or that the narrow circumference of a tree circumscribes his dull round of life,' who, as seasons and inclination inspire, roams from the frigid to the torrid zone, feasting on the abundance of various regions?"

steam-boiler and engine in use, with shafts and bands extending to all the presses, to give them motion when reof quired. But where the printing books, pamphlets, bills, &c. is done in a small office in the country, the object is too trifling to warrant much expense; and there we shall probably find one or more hand-presses, of some of the numerous kinds successively invented and introduced among us, after the reer of improvement began in this department, each of which was regarded as a specimen of surprising perfection in its day, but soon superceded by another.

ca

Hand labor must necessarily be used where but little printing is to be done, and at intervals; and therefore we find many of our small country newspapers printed by hand, while those which daily issue from our cities in thousands, demand machines which will multiply them at the greatest possible rate. And some of our most ingenious mechanics are continually exerting their inventive powers to attain greater and greater speed, to multiply printed sheets to more and more thousands in an hour.

Among the most experienced and successful of these mechanics, are the Messrs. Hoe, of this city, one of whose improved printing presses is represented at the head of this article. On comparing this with the cut on page 409, Vol. II. it will be seen that it resembles it in the general principles of its construction. They are both cylinder presses: the pressure of the paper upon the type being effected by making the bed of type pass under a large iron roller, which saves the labor and time required in pulling the lever and moving the bed in and out, by the power of the arm, for every impression made. We may give one or two more other specimens of presses of different sizes, invented by the same manufacturers, preparatory to a description of a still later one, of extraordinary powers, which has not yet been announced, but

has been constructed, and is expected to be soon in operation in Philadelphia, being intended for a newspaper of that city. The principle is one which has never been put in operation on a large scale, which admits the "feeding" of the press, (as it is termed), with great rapidity,that is supplying it with paper.

It has been stated, within a few days, that presses have just been brought into use in England, capable of printing 10,000 and even 12,000 copies in an hour: but we have been assured by a man of experience, that they are not likely to prove useful in practice, in consequence of the complexity of feeding the parts: the number and length of the tapes and cords, which carry the sheets to the bed, being such that they must be continually getting out of order, and quite unable to carry in our thin American cotton paper smooth enough to be well printed.

But to return to our print above: the parts will hardly need explanation, to one who has attentively considered our previous prints and remarks on this subject. The parts, although somewhat differently proportioned and arranged than in the cylinder-press before introduced, bear the same names and have the same offices to perform. Here we have the feedboard to lay the damp paper upon, prepared for printing, the grips or fingers to seize the edge of the sheets, as they are pushed forward, one by one, by the attendant, the tapes and cords which carry it down, the cylinder revolving, and bed of type sliding forwards and backwards by turns, the inking-rollers, with their various movements to receive the ink and to give it to the type with uniformity, the delivery-board, where the printed sheet is thrown out by the cords and tapes, and laid on the table by the hinge-board seen there. Here we have also the rag-wheel, with its universal joint, under the bed, which gives to it successive opposite movements, the wheel to which the band is applied, &c. &c.

Egyptian Mummies.

We have heretofore published some brief remarks on Egyptian Mummies, particularly in our first volume, page 321 but we had no idea at that time, that we should ever be put in possession, of such an amount of information on that subject, as Mr. Gliddon has given us in his recent lectures. Those of our readers who are familiar with Rollin's Ancient History, know how minute are the details it gives, from ancient writers, of the process of embalming, as practised in some of the later ages of Egypt. However, these are points of secondary importance, compared with a long series of facts recently brought to light by the investigations of the learned men of Europe, which we will now endeavor to communicate to our readers in outline, as our limits will not permit us to give them in full.

The origin of Mummification (or Mummy-making), is uncertain, but is conjectured to have arisen from circumstances. The oldest mummies are found to be penetrated with natron, nitre and alum, and dried. Those chemical substances are found in considerable quantities in the sandy soil which borders the rich alluvial banks of the Nile. It is supposed that the ancients may have at first buried their dead in the sand, and thus practiof cally learned the preservative powers the salts it contains, aided by the heat of the sun. Afterwards they imitated the same process by art, baking the bodies in ovens, after saturating them with salts,

&c.

"The Ritual of the Dead' was a collection of prayers made in the course of the ceremonies performed at funerals, with directions for their orderly observance. Numerous pieces of papyrus had been found with the mummies, the meaning of which was never understood until many of them had been collected and laid by as curiosities. They were deciphered and translated afterwards, but it was not until lately discovered that the writings were parts of a great whole. The entire book was deposited only in the richest tombs: the poorer mummies frequently furnishing but a single page. Not more than half a dozen complete copies are known; and these, having been compared with each other, and with many of the fragments, a translation has been made, and is soon to be published. This work,

called the Todtenbuch, (or Book of the Dead), in German, contains many allusions to the opinions and customs of the Egyptians, chiefly their superstitions and idolatrous practices.

The discoveries made by the archæologists give us an astonishing view of Egyptian idolatry and subserviency to an arrogant and oppressive priesthood. The doctrine that it was necessary to be mummified to be happy after death, was taught by the priests and believed by the people; and the former took advantage of it to degrade the nation to an abject spiritual slavery, and to enrich themselves. The making of mummies and the burial of them were very expensive processes; and, as every dead man, woman and child was mummified for many centuries, and priests performed every part of the complex business, and were paid their own prices, their wealth beThe priests monopo

came enormous.

lised every office, as Mr. Gliddon facetiously remarked, from that of the doctor, who killed the patient, to that of the undertaker, who completed the long work, by locking and sealing the door of the tomb, which, after an hundred ceremonies and a farewell feast, was to be forever left in silence and darkness.

Every temple had a complete mummy factory connected with it, containing ovens for drying the body after the preserving substances had been applied to it; potteries for making urns, to contain the vitals; and looms to weave the immense quantities of fine linen used as wrappers. At the same time large tracts of the surrounding soil were used for plantations to raise the materials; and every person employed in all these departments belonged to the fraternity. The mummy was carried to its restingplace by a procession, conducted with ceremony; and this, which was called, 'the journey of the mummy,' is represented over and over again in paintings on the walls of the tombs. Some writers have supposed them to represent the adventures of the soul after death; but these are otherwise described, and very particularly, in other pictures, and in the Ritual of the Dead. A more childish set of superstitions is hardly to be found though in certain points it bears some resemblance to those of the Greeks, Romans and Mohamedans.

Superstitions. It was believed that

the soul set out on its journey to the seat of judgment at the moment of death; and that, when the mummy was locked in the tomb, the body set off in pursuit of it, as no judgment could be held until they became reunited. After various adventures they came together, and had to reply to numerous questions, and to confess their past sins to forty-two confessors, (whose heads are represented in many paintings,) after which judgment was pronounced. One of the grounds on which the deceased claimed eternal happiness, (as the Ritual shows,) was, that his mummy had been duly prepared, and was standing upright.

Among the facts explained since this subject has been so much better understood, we may mention a few. The vast cemeteries of Thebes contained a multitude of embalmed bodies, vastly too great for a city even of such size. This is now accounted for. The rich and extensive Delta, with its great population, had no place fit for interment, being a low alluvion, so moist that mummies could not be preserved in it. The vicinity of Thebes was the nearest dry and rocky region; and there the people were compelled to make their sepulchres. The Journey of the Mummy,' therefore, was often made to that vicinity, and no doubt in various ways, as it is variously represented in many paintings: by land, by water, drawn by animals or carried by men.

The Pyramids.-The construction of these celebrated and astonishing structures, with the curious facts attending the investigations made among them, the curious discoveries recently made around and within them, afforded us much more interest and instruction than we had expected.

They must have been erected, in almost every instance, for the tomb and monuments of a single person, and that of a king, or in some modern instances, the ruler of a province. In this they resem. ble the western sepulchral mounds, according to the observations made by Mr. Squier and others; and also in having the tomb always under the apex.

Madeira.

The first appearance of Madeira did not come up to the idea we had formed of its beauties, from the glowing description of travellers. It exhibited nothing to the distant view but a bare and broken rock, of huge dimensions, which, though grand and imposing, is peculiarly dark and gloomy; and it was not until we had made our way close under the land, that we could discover the green patches which are everywhere scattered over the patches of its dark red soil, even to the tops of the highest peaks.

The mountain verdure was afterwards discovered to be owing to groves of heath and broom, which grow to an extraordinary height, aspiring to the stature of forest trees. In addition to these groves, the terraced declivities, covered with a luxuriant tropical vegetation, change, on a closer approach, its distant, barren aspect, into one of extreme beauty and fertility.

The most striking peculiarity in the mountain scenery is the jagged outline of the ridge, the rudely-shaped towers, and sharp pyramid of rock, which appear elevated on the tops and sides of the highest peaks, as well as on the lower elevations, and the deep precipitous gorges, which cut through the highest mountains, almost to their very base.

The shores of the island are mostly lofty cliffs, occasionally facing the water with a perpendicular front, one or two thousand feet in height. The cliffs are interrupted by a few small bays, where a richly cultivated valley approaches the water between abrupt precipices, or sur rounded by an amphitheatre of rugged hills. These narrow bays are the sites of the villages of Madeira.

As we sailed along from its western end, we occasionally saw, in these quiet and peaceful situations, small whitewalled villages, each with its little church at the outlet of the gorges. We were particularly struck with that of the Camera de Lobos, a few miles to the westward of Santa Cruz hill. This is the largest, and is the most interesting of all, from its having been the first point settled by Europeans. The high precipices were new to us Americans, so different from what we are accustomed to in the United States. The scene was still more striking, and our attention was more forcibly arrested, when passing un